The present invention relates to an attachment mechanism between a console and an appliance and more particularly to an attachment mechanism that obviates the need for threaded or exposed fasteners.
Many appliances include control consoles which may be formed separately from the remaining cabinetry of the appliance and must be secured to the appliance cabinetry in some fashion. Typically retaining screws or other threaded fasteners are utilized to secure the console to the cabinet.
For aesthetic reasons it has become desirable to hide the fasteners from the view of the consumer. One method of fastening consoles to appliance cabinets which hides the screws involves the use of a decorative trim piece that snaps into the console, covering the screw. However, while this effectively hides the screw, it adds cost to the assembly due to the added trim pieces and the extra labor required to assemble them. Another approach, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,510, is to locate the threaded fastener in a position, such as on the backside of the console, so that the fastener is not normally seen while the appliance is in use. Such an approach may work for those appliances where one side of the appliance typically is not in the view of the user, however, all appliances do not share this trait.
The use of threaded fasteners, by itself, involves a not inconsiderable cost, beyond just the cost of the threaded fastener and the labor required to assemble it. That is, oftentimes in the assembly process, particularly where the fasteners are attached by a mechanism such as a screw gun, occasionally the driving head of the screw gun slips from the threaded fastener and engages the painted cabinetry, thus damaging the cabinetry and requiring the cabinetry to be scrapped and replaced, considerably adding to the costs.
Therefore, it will be an improvement in the art if an attachment arrangement were provided between a console and an appliance which did not require the use of threaded fasteners and which attachment arrangement is not visible to the user of the appliance.
The present invention provides an attachment arrangement for an appliance console which avoids the use of threaded fasteners and which also results in a completed attachment where the attachment arrangement is not visible to the user.
In an embodiment of the invention, an attachment mechanism is provided for an appliance which has a separate console mounted on the appliance. The console has a housing and the appliance has a cabinet. At least one hook is provided which projects from one of the housing and the cabinet and an opening is provided in the other of the housing and cabinet to receive the hook such that the housing can pivotally move relative to the cabinet through the engagement of the hook in the opening. A resilient clip is held at one of the housing in the cabinet and an opening in the other of the housing in the cabinet is provided to receive the clip such that the clip will deform as it is inserted into the opening and will move back towards its non-deformed shape upon full insertion into the opening, wherein the clip will be captured in the opening and the console will be held onto the appliance. The resilient clip has sufficient give to it to permit the console housing to be moved slightly away from the appliance cabinet to allow the insertion of a thin tool, such as a screw driver or putty knife, to deform the clip sufficiently to permit it to release from the opening and to allow the console housing to pivot away from the appliance cabinet for removal of the console from the cabinet.
When the console housing is secured to the cabinet through the connection of the hook and the clip, both the hook and the clip will be hidden in the engaged area between the console housing and the appliance cabinet so that the fastening arrangement will be hidden from view from the user.
Preferably the hook and the resilient clip are formed or provided at the console housing with the openings being provided in the appliance cabinet, although either or both of the hook and clip placements could be reversed.
In certain appliances, such as washing machines and dryers, typically the console is secured to a top surface of the appliance cabinet with a bottom surface of the console being secured to the top surface of the appliance. In other appliances, such as dishwashers, ovens and other appliances, the console appears on a front surface of the appliance with the back of the console engaging the front surface of the appliance. The present invention can be used for any such appliances where one surface of the console engages a surface of the appliance whether it is the top surface of the appliance, the front surface of the appliance or any other surface.
To further stabilize the attachment, additional projections and openings can be provided such as multiple hooks and multiple clips as well as other locating pins.